Reference no: EM133225834

Assignment:

Case Study - Manual Handling In a Con?ned Space IT Team Problem

The company had an IT team who were complaining of fatigue and back pain as a result of adopting poor posture when working the server room. The server room although brightly lit and well ventilated the space between the server boxes was very narrow and with the boxes stacked from floor to head height.

The teams were all different shapes and sizes and often struggled when working on the computer components in cramped conditions.

Routine maintenance and repair work meant that the box had to be removed from its position and held up in the air by a team member whilst a second member of the team worked on it. This was an obvious struggle to both individuals to say nothing of the serious physical injury implications in addition to the cost of any damage that would be caused if a box was dropped and damaged.

Expansion of the space was not an option due to limited office space and lack of funds coupled with the massive upheaval it would bring to the organization.

The company called us in to look at the manual handling operations on behalf of the team as they were keen to find an urgent solution to this serious problem.

We talked the problems through with the team to get a better understanding of the way in which they worked. We were advised that the boxes need to be held up in position often for long periods or the cables would be wrenched from the sockets. Sliding mechanisms affixed onto shelves were also not an option due to the design ofthe server systems.

Question: Perform Manual Handling Risk Assessment based on task, individual. load and environment and suggest how the hazard can be prevented.